Setting Dusk and Rising Dawn
by KonahrikB157
Summary: The Tribunal has fallen, and the Dunmer Civilization is little more then ash and lava... but this is not the end. The Nerevarine did not leave Tamriel alone; as the leader of a small fleet carrying several hundred Dark Elves, he has a monumental task ahead of him. Still, this isn't the first time the Dark Elves have had to prove their resilience...


**Setting Dusk and Rising Dawn**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Elder Scrolls or the Last Airbender.**

**This story takes place in the same world as The Guardians of Nirn, just centuries before the return of Alduin. The end of the Nerevarine's story is that he left Tamriel for Akavir, and he's never seen or heard from again. This is my answer to that, and to what it would be like if the reincarnations of two ancient heroes met and interacted with each other. Before we move along though, I'd like to make a dedication to some friends of mine.**

_**I'd like to dedicate this story to the Servants of the Tribunal, one of the oldest RP Guilds in The Elder Scrolls Online**_

_**We've had some ups and downs over the years as I learned how to roleplay, but you've helped me grow as a writer**_

_**Ae Altadoon Almsivi**_

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_"Seven trials_

_What he puts his hand to, that shall be done._

_What is left undone, that shall be done._

_First Trial_

_On a certain day to uncertain parents_

_Incarnate moon and star reborn._

_Second Trial_

_Neither blight or age can harm him._

_The Curse of Flesh before him flies._

_Third Trial_

_In caverns dark Azura's eye sees_

_And makes to shine the moon and star._

_Fourth Trial_

_A stranger's voice unites the Houses._

_Three Halls call him Hortator._

_Fifth Trial_

_A stranger's hand unites the Velothi._

_Four Tribes call him Nerevarine._

_Sixth Trial_

_He honors the blood of the Tribe unmourned._

_He eats their sin, and is reborn._

_Seventh Trial_

_His mercy frees the cursed False Gods,_

_Binds the broken, redeems the mad._

_One Destiny_

_He speaks the law for Veloth's People._

_He speaks for their land, and names them great."_

**\- "Seven Visions of the Seven Trials of the Incarnate", as told by Nibani Maesa, Wisewoman of the Urshilaku Ashlander Tribe**

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**Chapter 1: The Lady's Mercy**

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**3E 429**

**Tamriel, Morrowind, Island of Vvardenfell**

**Holamayan Monastery**

Thadasou Morvayn stepped off the caravel, nodding his head at the boat master in silent thanks as he disembarked. The gold plating on his leather armor shined in the light as the sun began to fall in the twilight, while a hood remained down around his collar, revealing to the world his ashen gray skin, ruby-red eyes, knife-shaped ears, and long raven black hair. Two scimitars, one golden, the other blue, clanked against the plating on his back as he stepped onto the dock.

This Dark Elf was known to many as the Nerevarine, the reincarnation of an ancient Elven Lord and General named Nerevar. Over three thousand years ago, Nerevar led his people to victory against their enemies, only to succumb to wounds from battle while striking down a traitor. After that, his wife and advisors tapped into a powerful artifact which turned them into Living Gods, later known as the Tribunal, replacing worship of three goddesses known as Azura, Mephala, and Boethiah. However, one of the Dark Elves' gods proclaimed that Nerevar would come again, cast down the Tribunal, and restore the original gods to their rightful place.

This is old news however...

As he walked along the small wooden dock and onto the ashen soil common to the volcanic island of Vvardenfell, he looked ahead at the stone tower nestled among the natural rock formations that dotted the small island. The tower looked like it was made of a number of crab shells piled on top of each other, and stood at the end of a small canyon, with a path connecting it with the docks.

This building was known as the Holamayan Monastery, home of the Dissident Priesthood. The Dissident Priests, unlike most of the population of Morrowind, did not agree with the practices of the divine Tribunal. They believed that the triumvirate of Living Gods kept secrets from the public, and the priests did not agree with the practices of the Ordinators, the Temple's holy warriors. The Dissidents gathered documents and texts from the Temple's hidden libraries, which the public did not have access to, and secreted them away to Holamayan, where they hid from the Temple.

Of course, that was before two of the three Living Gods were killed, following the loss of their divinity three years earlier. Now the Temple was scrambling to process these developments, gradually shifting back to ancestral worship, as it was in the time before the Tribunal rose to power.

Thadasou followed the path to the base of the tower, only to find no obvious entrance in the stone face.

This lasted for only a few minutes.

As the sun began to fall toward the horizon, entering the time known as dusk, the massive stone wall in front of Thadasou shifted up, retracting into the tower and revealing an entrance. This was another of the monastery's defenses, it could only be accessed twice a day; only at dusk and dawn. At these times, a enchantment with a levitation spell would trigger, causing the protective shell to shift up. This symbolism corresponded to one of the Dark Elves ancient gods, specifically Azura, the Lady of Dusk and Dawn.

As Thadasou entered the Monastery, he was greeted by the eleven dissident priests and priestesses who called Holamayan home. They were all dressed in blue robes over leather tunics and pants, along with a set of blue epaulets that formed one piece that covered both shoulders and chest and upper back. The outfit was completed by a matching blue hood and a black cloth with gold trim resting on the backs of their necks and their shoulders. Five male and female Dark Elves flanked either side of the path leading from the door, with their heads bowed in respect and their hands clasped together in front of their faces.

As Thadasou walked along the path between the priests and priestesses, he nodded his head in respect. When he reached the end of the path, he was greeted by another priest, this one had no hood, showing a wrinkled dark-gray face, framed by long light-gray hair reaching down to his shoulders on all sides, with a pair of pointed ears sticking out of his hairstyle. This man was Gilvas Barelo, Master of the Dissident Priests, and Abbot of Holamayan Monastery.

The elder Dark Elf smiled at Thadasou as he approached.

"You will always be welcome here, Thadasou Morvayn, how may we assist you?" Gilvas inquired.

Thadasou smiled lightly in return as he spoke.

"Master Barelo, thank you for your gracious welcome. I've come to confirm something... troubling."

Gilvas quirked an eyebrow in confusion at Thadasou's statement.

"What concerns you, young one? Have we done something that gives you pause? If so, I would have no idea what that could be."

"No, no, it's nothing you have done," Thadasou placated as he shook his head. "You see, lately I've been having dreams... very concerning dreams. I thought to come here and pray for guidance from Azura."

"You are more then welcome, but why come here and not the Shrine to Lady Azura to the south?" Gilvas asked as he tilted his head to the right in a questioning manner.

"Because the Shrines to the Saints here in the abbey appeared in my dreams several times. I believe I was told to come here."

"Very well, I hope you do not mind if we join you while you commune, however?" Gilvas nodded his head and gestured toward the other priests and priestesses, who filed out of the room and moved toward the shrines.

"I have no qualms against it," Thadasou declared as he shook his head.

Thadasou and Gilvas followed the others into the Shrine. The room was filled with twelve small shrines, each dedicated to a different Saint of the Dark Elf faith. Each Saint performed a feat that both benefited their people and conveyed an important lesson; ranging from driving out invaders, to healing the sick and wounded.

While Gilvas joined his priests as they formed a semi-circle around the edges of the room, Thadasou knelt down in the center of the room, with the twelve shrines making up the rest of the circle around him. Thadasou bowed his head in respect and clasped his hands in front of him as he closed his eyes. While he did this, the twelve priests followed Thadasou's example and bowed their heads in silent prayer.

The silence reigned for five minutes... until a beautiful voice filled the room.

"Rise, Thadasou Morvayn. Rise Nerevarine."

All twelve Elves opened their eyes wide to see a new Dark Elf woman had appeared in the center of the room. She was dressed in a blue gown that complimented her light blue skin, her hair was black as the night sky, her eyes red as sparkling rubies. Adding to her beauty, a crown made of red roses sat on top of her head, decorating her hair.

This was Lady Azura, the goddess of Dusk and Dawn, the Mother of Roses, and one of the original gods of the Dark Elves.

In response to the appearance of a goddess, Gilvas and his priests knelt down and bowed their heads in supplication, while Thadasou rose from his kneeling position and stood tall as he looked at Azura.

"My Lady, I have been given dreams of disaster and the destruction of my people's civilization. Please, help me understand this." Thadasou spoke in a reverent tone as he addressed the goddess.

For her part, Azura reached down from her height over Thadasou and touched his forehead with the fingers on her right hand. When this happened, Thadasou's eyes began to glow softly as they widened in wonder.

What Thadasou saw while this happened was painful; he saw the visions from his dreams again, only this time they were more focused and clear, like someone had cleaned a window.

He watched as a meteorite crashed into a large city, obliterating every building and destroying a nearby port. Next, a massive volcano began to erupt, raining down lava and ash all over the cities built around the base while people fled to the sea in attempts to evacuate. After that, stone structures sprung up from the ground on the mainland, causing portals to appear and demonic soldiers to pour out and begin slaughtering Dark Elf soldiers and civilians all around. Lastly, when the portals finally closed, roars were heard as hulking lizard creatures marched from the south and began destroying and killing anything left standing, until they were pushed back by Dark Elf warriors dressed in full armor with a the insignia of a beetle on their shields.

When Azura removed her hand from Thadasou's head, the young Dark Elf recoiled in shock in exhaustion. As he breathed in and out steadily in response to what he just seen, he heard the priests gasp in shock and surprise as their eyes took on a similar glow as Thadasou's had earlier. Some of them held each other for comfort while others began to weep, and Gilvas simply blinked his eyes while his mouth hung agape.

"It was a warning," Azura declared as she gathered everyone's attention once more. "Troubling times are coming for the Dark Elves... Your Civilization will not survive, but when it is done and you rebuild, your new Civilization will be even stronger."

"How do I stop this! How do I save my people?" Thadasou begged Azura for an answer as he desperately ran through the visions, still trying to comprehend everything he was shown.

"You cannot." Azura simply stated as her face betrayed no emotion. "This is final penance for all the actions of the Dark Elves under the rule of the Living Gods. There is no way to stop this... but there is a way to save a fragment at least..."

"What do you mean?" Thadasou asked as his face twisted in confusion.

Azura reached forward and touched Thadasou's head again, causing his eyes to glow once more. This time, instead of a vision of destruction, he was shown what could have been the view of a bird as it flew from the eastern coastline, flying over the ocean until it stopped above a small ring of islands surrounding a larger one. The island almost looked like it was a fragment of the Dark Elf homeland; it was covered in the same sort of ash and sand that their people thrived in, and there were no signs of the island being inhabited.

"There is still time to save a fragment of your civilization," Azura explained as she removed her hand from Thadasou's head. "Gather all who will listen to you, all who will follow you, and take them to this island, far to the east. There, you will build a new home, and when the crisis has passed, and your people need you once more, you will return and you will help them rise again."

As everyone was shown the vision after Thadasou recovered, the young elf looked at the goddess with greater confusion.

"You want us to go to Akavir while our people suffer?" Thadasou asked in an incredulous tone.

Akavir was the land to the far east, a place that was more legend then fact. Some people say the land was inhabited by men who were half-man, half-snake, while others say that it was home to another race of humans. The only contact between them and the people of Tamriel, was when the Akaviri invasion forces landed on the shores several times in history. One of the Akaviri invasions met its end at the hands of the Dark Elves and their neighboring nations. Their armor and weapons were adopted by the Emperor's personal Guard, but they knew nothing about the signifigance of their katanas in the Akaviri homelands. They simply used them because of the invader's part in the history of the Empire.

"No." Azura shook her head as she spoke. "This island is unknown to the Akaviri. You will be safe there to forge a new home. When the time is right, the choice of making contact with the Akaviri will be yours alone. This must be done, or the people you could have saved will die. The people will listen when you call for them Nerevarine. Do what you believe is right."

With those last words, Azura disappeared, leaving Thadasou and the priests in the dark, with visions of destruction and a plan to save as many as he could.

As the thoughts of everything that had just happened weighed on his shoulders, Thadasou turned to Gilvas and the priests, who were picking themselves up off the floor. Gilvas looked at Thadasou with a questioning, almost desperate look on his face.

"What will you do?" Gilvas asked as tension filled the room

Thadasou frowned for a moment before he spoke.

"The only thing I can do. I'm going to save as many as I can, and I'll need your help."

Thadasou looked to the other priests as they waited to hear what he had to say.

"Go to the people you trust. Tell them that I, Thadasou Morvayn, the Nerevarine, am organizing an expedition to Akavir and that I'm looking for any who are willing to come with me to start a Dark Elf colony. Do not tell them about what Azura showed us, they'll think we're a bunch of insane fools preaching about the end of days. I'll go and speak to the councilors I trust and try to gain their support, and I'll tell them the real reason if they agree."

The priests nodded in affirmation, while Gilvas spoke.

"We will reach out to our contacts in the Temple, word will spread quickly after that," Gilvas observed. "We won't fail you, Nerevarine."

"Good luck to you all, the fate of our people hangs in the balance," Thadasou stated as he nodded at Gilvas while leaving the room.

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**Morrowind, isle of Vvardenfell**

**Ald'Ruhn, capital of House Redoran**

**Four weeks later...**

Thadasou knocked on the door to the councilors' home.

In the past four weeks, he'd been going to each of the men and women he trusted, looking for support. Some wished to join his expedition, while other pledged supplies, and only a few politely saying they could not do one or the other. He'd even managed to convince councilors on the mainland to lend him sizable ships for the journey, on the condition that they could join the expedition, along with a number of their family members and trusted associates. So far he'd managed to get one council member from each of the five Great Houses; Redoran, Telvanni, Hlaalu, Indoril, and Dres, to join his expedition, pledging their supplies, money, and political support to the plan. This all worked flawlessly toward his goal to recruit one hundred members from each House to fill the five ships he'd acquired.

Of course, only the Councilors would be aware of the real reasons for the expedition, to everyone else, it would be a chance to escape the political debacle and theological shift that was coming with the fall of the Tribunal. It helped that Thadasou assured the public that they would resume contact with Morrowind when they established a stable society on the island, ensuring people that this was not a one-way trip.

However, he was not in the Redoran capital to gain a councilors' support, he took care of that right after he returned from Holamayan.

The door opened, revealing a Dark Elf woman with shoulder-length firey red hair and light-gray skin. She wore a simple red dress with a black collar and long sleeves, along with a pair of sandals. When she saw who was at her door, she smiled widely.

"Thadasou! You're here! Come in, come in!" She held the door open for Thadasou to enter.

"I wouldn't be anywhere else Nartise." Thadasou replied as he entered Nartise's home with a smile.

Inside was a simple living room with a table, a small kitchen, a bookcase filled to the brim, and a small sitting area off to the side.

"Father's still at the council meeting, and my sister is off with some friends." Nartise moved into the kitchen and poured some tea into two cups as she spoke. She took both cups and put them down on the table "So, what did you want to talk about? In your letter you said it was of great importance."

Thadasou sighed deeply as he joined Nartise at the table, taking a seat in the chair next to her own. "You've heard about the expedition to Akavir?"

"Who hasn't? It's being talked about in every tavern, guildhall, and temple on the island. It sounds amazing, I wish I could go with you, but my father needs me here."

"I wish you could come with me too." Thadasou took a sip from his tea.

"You'll just have to send me letters, and promise to come visit me once a year and tell me all about it. Maybe one day I can see all you're going to build." Nartise continued.

"I wish that were possible... I really do." Thadasou spoke in a quiet voice, regretting was he had to tell her.

"What do you mean?" Nartise quirked an eyebrow as she tilted her head in confusion.

"Nartise, let me tell you the real reasons behind the expedition. It all started a month ago, when I went to the Dissident Priests about dreams I'd been having..." Thadasou explained everthing that had happened at the monastery, from Azura's appearance to the visions and the plan. When he finished speaking, Nartise looked horrified, her eyes wide and her mouth agape.

"So this isn't about exploration or expansion... this is about survival..." She asked in a shocked tone as she regained her composure.

"Yes. I may not be able to save everyone, but I can damn well try to save as many as I can." Thadasou spoke in a determined manner.

"How many people know the truth?"

"Only the House Councilors coming on the journey, a few others, including you and I."

"But why would you tell me?"

"To warn you. You need to leave the island and go to the mainland. You and your family will be safe there, and you can still help the council govern."

Nartise looked at Thadasou as if she believed he thought she was a fool. "If you wanted to warn us, you could have told my father, not me."

Thadasou grinned nervously as he scratched the back of his neck. "Well, when we depart, I plan to leave notes for each of the councilors who stay behind. Hopefully that will save at least a few lives, if they listen to Azura's visions. But the reason I came to you..."

Nartise looked annoyed at Thadasou for trailing off.

"Answer the question, Thadasou." Nartise crossed her arms, resisting the urge to grin. She already knew what he was going to say, she just wanted to hear it.

"I came to you because I love you! I don't want you to perish in this disaster! I'd never want to come back to Morrowind if you weren't alive to greet me!" Thadaous practically yelled out his confession, while a blush crept onto his face from embarassment.

In response, Nartise jumped up from her chair, gently wrapped her arms on Thadasou's shoulders, and kissed him on the lips. After the surprise passed, Thadasou placed his arms on her hips and kissed her back.

They kissed for half a minute before pulling away for air. Nartise just looked at Thadasou with a wide grin on her face, while he smiled back at her.

"Took you long enough..." She jested playfully.

With those words their lips rejoined once more.

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